Charles E. Chambers
She Answers The Question
1920

Name: She Answers The Question
Brand: Charles E. Chambers
Price: 7000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Image of two men standing in front of woman seated at desk. Charles Edward Chambers was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, studied at the Chicago Art Institute, and later the Art Students League in New York with George Bridgman. His illustrations were extremely skillful, marked by subtlety of value and color. He early learned to adapt his method of painting for the best possible reproduction, and to insure fidelity of printing, he often followed the assignments through to the hands of the engraver who made the plates. Chambers divided his time almost equally between editorial and advertising assignments. Among his advertising commissions was an outstanding series of portraits of musicians for Steinway & Sons. His distinctive illustrations for billboards, notably for Chesterfield and Palmolive Soap, set high standards for that field. He painted a dramatic series of cover designs for Redbook, worked under exclusive contract for Cosmopolitan magazine for several years, and illustrated such authors as Pearl Buck, Louis Bromfield, Faith Baldwin, and W. Somerset Maugham. Among his numerous awards was the second Altman Prize at the National Academy of Design exhibition in 1931 for his portrait of watercolorist and fellow-illustrator John Alonzo Williams.

Creator:

Charles E. Chambers (1883 - 1941, American)

Creation Year:

1920

Dimensions:

Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 23 in (58.42 cm)

Medium:

Oil,Canvas

Period:

1920-1929

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Fort Washington, PA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU3843925433

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Shop All Charles E. Chambers

Charles E. Chambers

The work of American realist painter and illustrator Charles Edward Chambers is characterized by such an exceptional mastery of color and composition that, in his day, his refined figurative paintings may have fooled collectors into thinking he was a graduate of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Born in 1883 in Ottumwa, Iowa, Chambers studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York under Canadian-American painter George Bridgman. Another of his teachers was illustrator Fanny Munsell (later his wife), who influenced his style and technique. Munsell secured illustration work for a range of magazines, including Cosmopolitan and Women’s Home Companion, before she died in 1920.

Chambers learned to modify his painting technique so that his work was primed for reproduction on a mass scale. He gained recognition as a classical figurative painter and illustrator during World War I when, in 1917, he illustrated a well-known poster for the U.S. Food Administration titled Food Will Win The War. He was also a regular contributor as an illustrator at the time to Harper’s Monthly and created covers for Redbook magazine.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Chambers kept busy with editorial assignments and advertising campaigns. While it’s true that Art Nouveau posters were plastered everywhere along the streets of Paris during the early years of the Belle Époque, poster art continued to remain very relevant in the Art Deco years, too. While creating illustrations for authors such as Pearl Buck, W. Somerset Maugham, Faith Baldwin and Louis Bromfield, Chambers earned advertising commissions from the decades’ prominent companies and brands. These included painting portraits of famous musicians Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Cortot and Ignacy Jan Paderewski for Steinway & Sons and designing billboard ads and posters for cigarette company Chesterfield and soap manufacturer Palmolive.

Today, Chambers’s works remain favorites among collectors of vintage 20th-century art.

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